Welcome to the Lawn Care Forum. My name is Mallory. May we have a name to address you by, or do you prefer tlm04? I don'thave any tactics to offer except proper watering, mowing, and fertilizing. If you'd like, you can check this thread for specifics, the 10th response from the top. Looking forward to sharing and learning with you.

Welcome to the forum, and to the world of daylilies! Curt Hanson (crintonic.com), RIchard Norris (ashwooddaylilies.com), and Karol Emmerich (springwoodgardens.com) are three names that I can think of, for hybridizers that work in cold zone areas. Most or all of their plants should be hardy to your zone. You can look at their websites, or you might be able to find their plants (some no longer sold on the websites, others at cheaper prices) on the Lily Auction (http://www.daylily.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi). (You want to be really careful about going to the LA, though - it can be addictive and before you know it, you have tubs and tubs and tubs full of soaking bareroot daylilies!) You can also search out any daylily that has won the Lenington All American award, as they have proven performance across the nation. Some dormant daylilies that have won this award include 'Red Volunteer' and 'Mary's Gold'. If you can't find them on the Lily Auction, you can just Google them and find a seller online. You might also try some of Judi Davisson's daylilies, at least some of which are dormants or semi-evergreens and are cold winter tolerant. (Hopefully someone here with more experience can chime in on that.) Finally, I am going to put in a plug for one of my favorite daylilies (a Hite-Davisson introduction), 'Osterized'. It has been grown in both Maine and Michigan, so it should do okay for you.

Hello, I thought I'd introduce myself. I've been a member and reading post for a while getting the feel of how the forum works. Some of you I reconize from another forum I'm on. I live on a cattle ranch in Ks. I'm 55 and been growing plants forever. I have orchids, succulants, tropicals, epi's, schlums, hatiora and Hoya. (I think that covered everything) I currantly have around 60 Hoya and just ordered cuttings from D Liddle's. My oldest Hoya is a carnosa I got 30 years ago and it's 5' tall. I love to trade, it's such fun. I now have setting buds Lacunosa, Serpens and Multiflora. I can't wait for spring to get here so I can go on the hunt for new varieties. I love seeing pictures of everyones plants and hope to be posting some of my own as soon as I figure out how. Jo

We have verde peacock granite, which is similar to the verde butterfly you're considering using, plus white cabs and medium brown hardwood floors. We went with white subway tiles and are so happy with the results. It reads classic and the contrast between the white cabs and dark counters looks great. Love the idea of using marble on the island to break it up a bit!!